April 2010

I've had another marvellous visit to the Northern Children's Book Festival and visit to the Hertford Library to talk to the very friendly CHATTERBOX group there.

My books of FLOOD and FRUIT stories were published in January. It's always great to hold a finished book in my hands and to see how the illustrations match (or don't) the pictures I had in my head when I was writing the stories. There are lots of pictures of animals in those stories, which is a particular joy.

When I was young, most of my favourite books were those with beautiful illustrations: Pauline Baines' pictures in the Narnia books, and Edward Ardizzone's in The Land of Green Ginger were notable examples. I've been incredibly lucky to have lots of marvellous illustrators for my books, including Steve May, Korky Paul, Martin Remphrey, Tony Ross and Dee Schulman.

ICE MAIDEN is at the exciting stage where the all-important cover is being designed. The rough I've seen is spooky and strange and wonderful, and I'm looking forward very much to seeing the finished thing.

I'm just about to start writing a 'request' book - requested, that is, by lots of schoolchildren when I've been visiting them. I don't know quite what it's going to be about yet, but at the moment it's called NITS OF DOOM and the plan is that it'll feature at least one VERY strange teacher.

I shall be visiting Eagle House School Festival on 16th June. Tickets are available via www.eaglehouseschool . The more the merrier!

September 2009

Phew! I see that in June I said I was at the final scary stages of writing THE ICE MAIDEN. Little did I know it was going to take another three more months of panic and hair-raising to get it ready to send off. I'm meeting my marvelloud editor Liz Cross soon ro discuss it. By the time I deliver a manuscript I'm always a bit muddled by all the changes I've made so I really do need someone to cast a fresh eye over the book for me and tell me what works, what doesn't, and how deleting Page 161 has made the whole ending completely incomprehensible.

Hurray for editors!

WHEELS OF WAR has been published at long last. Hurray for that too. Many thanks to everyone who's written to say how much they enjoyed the story.

I had a lovely time visiting the Seven Stories in Newcastle during the summer. Do go to this museum of Children's Books if you possibly can. It's full of exciting things to see and do, amd everyone's very enthusiastic and friendly.

As a bonus, I was delighted to find a kittiwake colony on the Tyne Bridge too!

June 2009

WHEELS OF WAR is due to be published any minute, which is very exciting: it was delivered to the publisher long ago - before any of the Truth Sayer books - but various complications have delayed publication until now.

WHEELS OF WAR was great fun to write. It's set in the 1820s and I needed to know lots about carpentry, cartwheels, horse driving, stained glass, soldiering and dung. I was helped greatly by Kath Worrall, who helped me with the horses, and Jerry Stone, who knew exactly what the moon should be doing at each stage of the story. My father, A. J, Ward, lent me a beautiful 18th century gardening book which was quite evangelical about the uses of human dung.

I'm at the final, scary, stages of writing THE ICE MAIDEN, my Cold Tom-linked book, at the moment. That's been interesting, too, and I've learnt a beautiful new word that I've been able to use: deasil. It's the opposite of widdershins.

I've just received artwork roughs for my FRUIT folk tales. I do admire illustrators tremendously, especially for the way they wiggle their pictures through the blocks of text. I do hope the illustrator of THE BAOBAB TREE (I don't know his or her name yet) enjoyed drawing the picture of the gods sticking eyelashes onto a very indignant ostrich.

March 2009

This summer will see the publication of two novels: THE TRUTH SAYER: PLAGUE OF MONDAYS and WHEELS OF WAR.

I've been visiting lots of libraries in my home county of Hertfordshire, which has been a great pleasure, and am just back from the Saffron Walden Festival, where I got to speak in the local cinema - a first!

Thanks to everyone who has made my visits so much fun.

I've just finished writing two anthologies of folk tales about FLOODS and FRUIT, which has been fascinating. The world is full of tremendous stories! Vietnam alone has a marvellous collection of folk tales, and I wish I'd had space in the anthology to include more of them.

My major project at the moment is a novel, THE ICE MAIDEN, which is linked to COLD TOM, though it is set in 1938. The research for this book has been extremely interesting, and I've been lucky enough to be able to consult the violinist Stefanie Logie, who's been able to tell me lots about being in Berlin in the 1930s.

THE ICE MAIDEN takes place around the vernal equinox, so my next bit of research will involve a long walk on the common around the 20th March with a notebook and camera

Welcome Biography Books Journal Visits Questions Loves Hates Links and Contact